<p>Corian damage is usually easily reparable. I’ve seen live demos. I also love soapstone, have an old triple washbasin in the laundry room. </p>
<p>We used to live in a lovely neighborhood with lots of mature trees. Most older homes are being torn down and new ones built in their place. In our former home, we had granite in the kitchen/butler’s pantry/wet bar, but Corian everywhere else (bathroom counters, laundry room counter). When we sold last year, our realtor said the Corian was the one thing that somewhat dated our house and that there was no doubt it would all be torn out in lieu of granite or quartz. If we hadn’t had granite and SS appliances in the kitchten, it would have impacted our sale negatively. Those things are expected in a neighborhood where you are competing with new construction.</p>
<p>Someone dropped a heavy object into our Corian sink resulting in a huge dent with a hole in the middle. The repair guy cut a circle out and glued a new one in, sanded a bit… I was in total shock - there was no way to tell where the damage used to be! It looked like it never happened. With ss or enameled sink I would have had to replace the sink or live with the damage. So yes, Im a big fan of Corian.</p>
<p>Wis has a good advice about picking a new fridge. The door slam test is a must, and has to be performed by the worst offender. :)</p>
<p>^^^^^LOL, good one.</p>
<p>I love the look of soapstone. But friends got it, and within a week of installation, a chunk had cracked off on a couple of spots. The installer did replace it…but it’s just too soft for my tastes! </p>
<p>Neighbor has a Corian sink with severe hot water damage- the reason I would never go with it for a kitchen sink. All it takes is one boiling pan of water from pasta being drained to ruin a sink. replaced old Formica with new a few years before we moved- spent a lot less and am sure no matter what we chose buyers would prefer a different color. Didn’t replace 20 year old carpet either- it superficially looked good and for the quality I would have wanted to live with it wasn’t worth the expense. It would be fun to see what the new owners ended up doing with the house- they made such a fuss about the roof they never asked for any other concessions (and didn’t get that either). They got a bargain- at least we finally sold it.</p>
<p>“All it takes is one boiling pan of water from pasta being drained to ruin a sink”</p>
<p>I dont believe this. Your neighbor possibly drained something like hot oil into the sink - we used to cook pasta all the time, and I have not been able to ruin the sink by draining the pasta. I’m at almost sea level, so water here boils at 100oC (unlike in some parts of CO where it would boil at 95-ish).</p>
<p>We had a swan stone sink for 19 years. It’s the same as corian. We cooked pasta at least once a week. Hot pans were placed in the sink on a very regular basis. The sink looked brand new when it was removed. Boiling hot water would not damage a corian sink.</p>
<p>Wait, am editing–
The DuPont phrasing is: “Boiling water alone will not damage your Corian® sink; however, it is a recommended practice to run cold water from the faucet while pouring boiling water into the sink.”</p>
<p>Some say hot water damage can also be repaired. But if it’s extensive, I’d guess expensive.</p>
<p>Do you place hot pots on granite? And do you seal it annually?</p>
<p>Yes. I place hot pots on granite. It’s the main reason I got granite instead of quartz. There is a warning about excessive heat and quartz.</p>
<p>I use Method Daily Granite Cleaner daily. But once a week, I use a different product that has some sealant in it. And I reseal annually. It’s really not a hard job.</p>
<p>I like the look of many granites. I just don’t like the idea of sealing. I know it’s not a hard job. These days we aer in the mood to reduce household maintenance, not increase. </p>
<p>To repair the crack in my sink, it was about $200, if I recall that correctly. Getting a new sink would have cost much more and would have been a bigger pita. </p>
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<p>Perhaps different granites have different requirements. We put granite in our kitchen when we built the house. We NEVER re-sealed it and it looked just as pristine when we sold 15 years later as it did the day we installed it.</p>
<p>I use trivets under my hot pots, but mostly I just keep them on the burners. That’s the beauty of having a natural gas stove. </p>
<p>^^^^^Ditto.</p>
<p>I doubt that I NEED to seal my granite annually, but it’s no harder than cleaning off the laminate counters and giving them a REALLY good scrub. Actually, sealing is easier!</p>
<p>I only sealed my once - after the 1st year. It was very easy to do, took about 5 minutes, but I don’t think it’s really necessary so I haven’t done it since. I also put hot pots on the counters all the time. </p>
<p>I use the Method cleaner, too but sometime I just use Glass Plus. </p>
<p>I wonder if I will ever decide on a new fridge. Today I looked ( again) at the GE Slate color, which H and I both like. Salesman said that it is not selling very well, which means that replacing appliances someday would pose color matching problems, if they discontinue it. Would a dark gray fridge put off most people? (I do think we will go with French doors, bottom freezer.)</p>
<p>“Perhaps different granites have different requirements.” - True. I read that some are more porous than others. But it’s tricky to know, so best to do the sealing. </p>
<p>My new kitchen is going to have soapstone next to sink and stove and butcher block elsewhere. I don’t care what resale value is - in any event it is surely better than mustard colored chipped Formica and cabinets from the 1980s! I’d like to get a new fridge but don’t see how I can justify the cost.</p>